Youth Billy Price Jersey

In Carlos Martinez’s first eight starts of the year Youth Billy Price Jersey , the St. Louis Cardinals right-hander pitched at a Cy Young Award level. While his record was only 3-2, his ERA was a miniscule 1.62 and he gave up only five earned runs in a seven-start stretch.

But a strained right lat cost him four weeks, and Martinez hasn’t been the same pitcher since being activated from the 10-day disabled list on June 5. He has walked a whopping 12 batters in 7 2/3 innings, including seven on Sunday in 3 2/3 innings during a 6-3 loss at Cincinnati.

Martinez will need to be sharper Saturday night when St. Louis tries to square its three-game weekend series with the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium, where it absorbed a frightful 13-5 pounding Friday night.

Chicago (39-27) produced seven extra-base hits, including homers by Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ. Bryant’s two-run blast over the Cubs’ bullpen in the third snapped an 0-for-17 skid, and Schwarber’s 465-foot moonshot to center in the fifth was one of the longest homers in stadium history.

Bryant’s homer also snapped a 24-game streak without a long ball. It came after manager Joe Maddon gave him two days off in Milwaukee, followed by a schedule-enforced off-day on Thursday.

“Rest in this game cures everything,” Maddon said.

Does that work for Martinez as well? Martinez (3-3, 2.50 ERA) admitted he didn’t completely turn it loose in his return outing against Miami on June 5.

He aired it out to 99 mph in his last appearance but simply couldn’t control his breaking pitches and was reduced to a one-pitch pitcher by the time the Reds touched him for four runs in the fourth inning.

While upset with umpire Gerry Davis’ strike zone, Martinez knew command was a bigger issue than what was or wasn’t being called.

“I think some of my breaking balls were not good,” he said. “I couldn’t find the strike zone with my breaking ball and cutter, too. That’s why you saw a lot of four-seamers. They hit a lot of foul balls. I missed a lot.”

Martinez has been up and down in his career against Chicago, going 4-4 with a 4.53 ERA in 24 outings, 14 of them starts. It will be his first start of the year against the Cubs.

Chicago counters with right-hander Kyle Hendricks (4-6, 3.48), who is coming off a 7-1 loss Sunday to Pittsburgh that had little to do with his performance. Hendricks permitted just three hits and a run in five innings, but Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison led off the game with a homer. The Pirates feasted on the Cubs’ bullpen for five runs in the sixth.

Hendricks has pitched fairly well in his career against the Cardinals (36-31) with little to show for it, going 2-2 in 10 starts with a 3.32 ERA. This will be his first appearance in 2018 against St. Louis.

Chicago’s Friday outburst against Michael Wacha John Gibson Jersey , who had an eight-game winning streak snapped, led to the Cardinals running up the white flag early. They removed catcher Yadier Molina after five innings and even let reliever John Brebbia take an at-bat in the ninth after using all of their position players.

“We were trying to conserve arms and get a couple of guys off their feet,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.

MIAMI — Monday is a day that Shelby Miller has been waiting for since he underwent elbow surgery more than 14 months ago.

The Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander will make his first major-league appearance since April 23, 2017, facing the Miami Marlins and right-hander Dan Straily (2-3, 4.89 ERA).

The Diamondbacks, who lead the National League West with a 44-33 record, have won four games in a row.

Now they get back Miller, a 27-year-old former first-round pick who was drafted 19th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009. He went 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA in 2013, finishing third in the Rookie of the Year voting.

Since then, however, Miller has been traded twice — by the Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves and then to Arizona before the start of the 2016 season.

So far, the Diamondbacks haven’t gotten much return on their investment. Miller went 3-12 with a 6.15 ERA in 2016 and 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA before getting hurt a year ago, lasting just four starts.

“I definitely have some things to prove over here,” Miller, an All-Star with Atlanta in 2015, told azcentral.com. “I feel I was throwing pretty well last year. Unfortunately, I got hurt.”

Monday represents a fresh start for Miller, who made four starts in extended spring training earlier this year followed by four minor-league rehab appearances.

“I’m super excited to be here,” Miller said. “For me Authentic Josh Manson Jersey , it’s a huge accomplishment.

“Command was the last thing to come back. But I feel it is there now. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel I was ready to pitch.”

Straily, who will be Miller’s counterpart on Monday, faced Arizona earlier this year, allowing one run in 4 1/3 innings of a 6-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on June 3.

In Straily’s most recent start, he lasted just 1 1/3 innings before he was ejected for the first time in his career, exiting during a 6-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Straily was tossed out after he hit Giants star catcher Buster Posey with a pitch.

“I don’t know,” Posey said when asked by the media if the hit-by-pitch was intentional. “It sure seemed that way.”

Of much bigger concern for the Marlins (31-47) is the fact that they have lost their past five games when Straily starts. Straily has zero quality starts during that span.

The Marlins, who are in last place in the NL East, beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Sunday for their second straight win.

Miami finished 5-4 on its road trip to the Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants and Colorado, taking two of the three series. It is Miami’s first winning road trip of the year.

The Marlins are 11-11 in June, which has already made this their best month of the season. And they have more road wins (17-26) than home victories (14-21).

Meanwhile, Arizona has a winning record at home (23-16) and on the road (21-17). They are 16-6 in June after a poor May (8-19). The Diamondbacks are also 3-0 against the Marlins.

Hot Miami hitters include left fielder Derek Dietrich, who was 4-for-5 on Sunday to raise his batting average to .302, and catcher J.T. Realmuto, who went 1-for-3 and is batting .308.

Dietrich batted .476 for the week with three homers and three multi-hit games. Realmuto hit .360 this week with five doubles, one homer, six RBIs and at least one hit in all six games.